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Cape Town

city in the Western Cape, South Africa

51 dated entries naming Cape Town, drawn from 43 separate years between 1652 CE and 2014 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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17th century

  • 1652April 6 – Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope in modern-day South Africa, thus founding Cape Town.source
  • 1694April 2 – Sheikh Yusuf, exiled by the administrators of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), arrives at the Dutch Cape Colony on the ship De Voetboog, at what later becomes Cape Town, South Africa, along with two wives, two concubines and twelve children. Resettled by the colonial government at a farm in Zandvliet, the Sheikh introduces Islam to South Africa.source

18th century

  • 1730December 27 – The Dutch East India Company ends an almost 11-year effort of trying to maintain a colony around Delagoa Bay in southern Africa in modern-day Mozambique. The entire population of the settlement, Fort Lydzammheid (near modern-day Maputo) is evacuated by the ships Snuffelaar, Zeepost and Feyenoord and the group returns to Cape Town.source
  • 1795September 15 – French Revolutionary Wars – Invasion of the Cape Colony: British forces capture Cape Town in the Dutch Cape Colony, to use its strategic facilities against the French Navy.source

19th century

  • 1804A diverse group later called the Griqua migrates from the Cape to Klaarwater, north of the Orange River.source
  • 180429 May – Gottlieb Wilhelm Antonie van der Lingen, founder of the Paarl Gymnasium, is born in Cape Townsource
  • 1806January 9 – The Dutch commandant of Cape Town surrenders to British forces. On January 10, formal capitulation is signed under the Treaty Tree in Papendorp (modern-day Woodstock).source
  • 181512 March - Cornelis Moll, founder of the first Natal newspaper De Natalier, is born as the 24th child in Cape Townsource
  • 182017 March - The first British settlers arrive in Table Bay, Cape Town on the "Nautilus" and the "Chapman".source
  • 18289 May – Andrew Murray, author, educationist and pastor, is born in Cape Townsource
  • 1829South African College founded in Cape Town, South Africa; later to separate into the South African College Schools and the University of Cape Town.source
  • 1829October 1 – South African College is inaugurated in Cape Town.source
  • 1840The Cape Town Municipality is formed and has a population of 20,016, of which 10,560 are Whitessource
  • 1845The road from Cape Town to Stellenbosch through the Maitland area is completedsource
  • 1849The first Jewish Congregation is founded in Cape Town.source
  • 185023 April — A mass meeting is held in Cape Town to petition Queen Victoria to grant the Cape Colony a governmentsource
  • 1852February 25 – HMS Birkenhead sinks near Cape Town, British Cape Colony. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive, after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to overwhelm the lifeboats containing women and children.source
  • 185225 February – HMS Birkenhead sinks near Cape Town, British Cape Colony. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive, after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to overwhelm the lifeboats containing women and children.source
  • 186020 March – The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company takes delivery of eight broad gauge 0-4-2 tender locomotives for service on the Cape Town-Wellington line, which is still under construction.source
  • 18621 May – Cape Western – Cape Town to Stellenbosch, 30 mi.source
  • 1863April 1 – The Cape Town and Green Point Tramway Company commences with the first horse-drawn trams in Cape Town from the foot of Adderley Street and out along Somerset Road to Green Point.source
  • 1873December 4 – HMS Challenger, on its worldwide marine research expedition, is officially welcomed in Cape Town.source
  • 1876June 16 – The railway line from Cape Town to Worcester is officially opened.source
  • 188020 March – £50,000 worth of diamonds are reported stolen from Cape Town's post office.source
  • 1880The Muizenberg Flyer, a faster suburban passenger train service, is introduced in Cape Town.source
  • 1883Eighteen 3rd Class 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives are delivered to the Cape Government Railways from Neilson and Company and placed in passenger service out of Cape Town, East London and Port Elizabeth respectively.source
  • 1885November 28 – The railway line from Cape Town to Kimberley is completed.source
  • 1892September 15 – The railway line from Cape Town via Bloemfontein, with connections to Port Elizabeth and East London, is completed to Germiston.source
  • 1899May 4 – Cape Town based food packaging company Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company is founded in London.source
  • 1899November 30 – The first women to serve, in uniform, in the armed forces of any nation begins service as part of the Canadian Militia Expeditionary Force to Cape Town to serve in the Boer War. Georgina Fane Pope and three other women are enlisted as army nurses.source

20th century

  • 1901November 9 – The electric tramline in Cape Town is extended from Sea Point to Camps Bay.source
  • 1901November 18 – Boer commandos invade the Cape Colony and come to within 50 miles of Cape Town.source
  • 1903March 12 – Andries Dreyer, an archivist of the Dutch Reformed Church, is ordained as a missionary of the congregation for the Hanover Street area in Cape Town.source
  • 1909Mahatma Gandhi embarks in Cape Town for Southampton, England.source
  • 1914July 18 – Mahatma Gandhi leaves South Africa for the last time, sailing out of Cape Town for England, on board the S.S. Kinfauns Castle.source
  • 1914July 18 – Mahatma Gandhi leaves South Africa for the last time, sailing out of Cape Town for England on board the SS Kinfauns Castle.source
  • 1917The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town is handed over to the South African Defence Force.source
  • 1918May 14 – The Three Minute Pause, initiated by the daily firing of the Noon Gun on Signal Hill, is instituted by Cape Town Mayor Sir Harry Hands. It will inspire the introduction of the two-minute silence in November 1919.source
  • 1933May 29 – The first consignment of 10,000 Afrikaans Bibles arrives at Cape Town from London on the Union-Castle Line's Carnarvon Castle.source
  • 1933July 8 – The first rugby union test match is played between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa, at Newlands in Cape Town.source
  • 1938July 1 – The South African Press Association is established, with offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.source
  • 1950November 2 – South African Airways inaugurates daily services between Johannesburg and Bulawayo and between Johannesburg and Cape Town.source
  • 1955March 23 – The Meadowridge garden city opens near Cape Town.source
  • 1959July 9 – Wing Commander Michael Beetham flying a British Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant sets a record of 11 hours 27 minutes for a non-stop London-Cape Town flight.source
  • 1960February 3 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast – modern-day Ghana – on January 10).source
  • 1966February 11 – District Six in Cape Town is declared a White Group Area by the government.source
  • 1967December 3 – Christiaan Barnard carries out the world's first heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.source
  • 1974January 11 – David, Elizabeth, Emma, Grant, Jason and Nicolette Rosenkowitz are born in Cape Town, the first sextuplets in the world where all six babies survive.source
  • 1990February 11 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 27 years behind bars.source
  • 1996August 21 – Former State President of South Africa, F. W. de Klerk, makes an official apology for crimes committed under Apartheid to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town.source

21st century

  • 2014September 26 – The 2014 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, to be held in Cape Town from 13 to 15 October, is suspended after a boycott of Nobel Laureates to protest the third time refusal of a visa to the 14th Dalai Lama by a South African Government "kowtowing to China".source

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